Tunnel of Chances
by JadeBlackDiamond
Summary: Summary: ONE-SHOT. Yeah this day could've been so much better, but I decide this girl isn't so bad.


Annoyance, the first word that enters my mind when I think about today. Of course, I have Blackstar to blame for my current mood. I'm walking behind him and his new girlfriend, Tsubaki, now. She's cool and all, but really… dragging your friend all around the state fair while you flirt with your girlfriend. Then there's the fact that it's nearly eighty-five degrees outside. Oh, and don't forget the stupid carnival music.

Yeah, this isn't exactly my day, so I couldn't help but be happy when they announce that the place was closing in a few minutes. Then, the two nuisances just have to go and ruin my mood.

"Hey Soul, me and Tsubaki are going into the Tunnel of Love."

A few responses come to mind such as: _"It's Tsubaki and I dumbass," _Or, _"Why? So you guys can go suck faces some more?" _Although, I don't say any of those because there's no reason to ruin everyone's night.

Instead I say, "it's cool," and begin to walk to the nearest park bench.

"You should come too, Soul!" Tsubaki tries to include as she's done all day because honestly, Blackstar couldn't ignore my existence any more than he has.

"Yeah Soul, why _don't _you come?" I know that doesn't sound like mockery, but trust me; Blackstar's definitely being an asshole right now. He finds it hilarious that I don't date much and doesn't hesitate in teasing me about it.

"Whatever," I blow him off because I'm not in the mood to fight with him.

"It would make me happy, please Soul?" Tsubaki begs a little. She's just too nice to let me feel left out. That's why I won't let my mood affect her good time. I mean, what has Tsubaki ever done to me?

"Fine," I give in because Blackstar would kill me in my sleep if I happened to upset Tsubaki. In fact, before I agreed, I could see him giving me a look that says, 'If you don't accept I'll murder you.'

So now we're in line, and I'm forced to listen to more of Blackstar's horrible jokes that make absolutely no sense. Of course, Tsubaki's laughing which encourages him to make even more lame jokes. Seriously, you'd have to be drunk or have the patience of Tsubaki to tolerate Blackstar for more than hour.

Another five minutes and we're already near the front. It's good that most everyone has gone home so the lines are shorter because I'm SO close to strangling my friend to death. It would totally be worth the time in prison if I could escape his existence for an even an hour. Although, our place would get pretty dull with just me and Kid in it.

Blackstar and Tsubaki get into the stupid ride and are off in the next two minutes.

"Are you a single rider?" The ride's operator asks seemingly bored with his job.

I answer with a simple 'yeah' and he gives me the most disappointing news ever.

"Sorry kid, but there are no more single rides open."

I'm sorry, but I don't think I heard right. There are NO MORE single rides? So I waited in that torture line for NOTHING?!

"If you want, you could ride with another single rider or you can turn around; your choice."

I definitely don't want to spend two minutes with some annoying stranger, so the obvious choice is to decline.

"I think I'll just- ," He cuts me off because apparently he's a duchebag who just wants to get his day over with. Well I hope he gets fired… or at least has to work the tilt-a-whirl so some kid pukes on him. Yeah, that would make my day.

"Any other single riders?"

There hopefully wouldn't be any more single riders but with my luck... yeah I'm screwed.

"Sorry Kid, but you'll have to- ," _"HA! Payback! Who's getting cutoff now?"_

"WAIT! She's a single rider!"

I turn around to see three girls walking towards the front of the line. All three were blonde and thin. One was taller than the other two who were around the same height. _"Probably all sisters and all annoying."_

"Who's the single rider here?" The operator asks the three teens and sighs deeply as they start to decide who'll be riding with a stranger tonight.

"Fine, I'm guessing I'm going to be the single rider. So, who's going to be my partner?" The pig-tailed one asks.

"You're riding with him," the operator gestures to me and starts to bring the next ride around.

The girl takes in my features and probably assumes I'm trustworthy as she just looks away with a nod towards the operator guy. The next boat has already returned back to the station and is ready for the two of us to enter.

We both get inside our boat and the ride starts. At least this thing is only a two minute ride because things have already gotten to an awkward start. This chick won't even look at me let alone make conversation; it's kind of annoying, or maybe it's just my mood.

"I'm Soul by the way," I say randomly thirty seconds after the ride begins. I didn't think she was going to speak to me at first, but she obviously isn't 'a rude little snob that I had the unfortunate to meet like I had originally thought.

"That's a weird name you know," She answers still choosing not to look at me.

_"Well I'm sorry that my name couldn't be more normal."_

"It's original I guess," I shrug because I honestly could care less about her opinion.

"I'm Maka… in case you were wondering." Her name sounds so unique and beautiful.

"I _was _a little curious pigtails," I grin a little trying to make the ride more enjoyable. She turns to me fully with a scowl on her face.

"Nice joke. I haven't heard that one before," she snaps back, sarcasm lacing her voice. She's definitely got spunk. Totally not uncool. See that there kids? That's called a double negative and totally illegal in English class. Yeah… _that _was uncool. Maybe this chick's fried my brain or something.

"Hey, it's hard to come up with good nick names for strangers," I try to defend, but of course, guys always lose arguments.

"Oh is it Shark Boy?" Maka smirks.

"Huh?"

"You're teeth Soul," Maka laughs a little and she looks so innocent and adorable right now.

"Whatever," I turn away so she can't see me, but God do I want to see her. She's got the greenest eyes I've ever seen. Suddenly, I'm lost in thought.

It's quiet for a few seconds and I turn to see Maka definitely enjoying the scenery.

"Why didn't you're boyfriend bring you?" I ask half hoping that she wouldn't have a boyfriend at all.

"I don't date much actually."

"Seriously? Me too. I mean I don't date much either," I can't believe how lame I sound right now.

"You sound so… uncool right now," Maka starts up a laughing fit.

"Look who's talking. You look like the geek of the week," I smirk at my somewhat clever comeback.

"I bet you thought that was pretty clever didn't you?" What? Is she reading my thoughts now?

"No I'm not reading your mind," She smirks and I just want to kiss that look right off her face, but I don't because I'm too busy trying to find an appropriate response.

"What are you, some sort of witch?"

"Yes, and I'm here to make you my personal slave." _That doesn't sound half bad actually_. _What's with these weird thoughts? _No girl has ever affected me like this.

"Well I guess that's what I get for being the chosen one huh?"

We laugh at our playful banter and before I know it, the ride is coming to an end.

"You know, the ride's almost over," Maka states with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah," I sigh and suddenly, the boat stops. In fact, everything stops; the music, the dancing, cheery scenery and even the water is still.

"What's going on?" Maka asks curiously.

"The operator is probably messing with us." _More than likely it's Blackstar trying to impress Tsubaki with some stupid prank._

"This isn't funny guy!" Maka yells probably hoping that the operator guy will hear, but we're too deep into the tunnel. I don't like this at all.

"Did they stop the ride?" I wonder out loud. This situation isn't looking so good.

"What?! Maka screeches suddenly. "They couldn't have forgotten about us. I mean, there were still other riders, and what about Liz and Patti? Surely they would let someone know that we're still in here. Don't they realize the ride has stopped and we're STILL HERE?"

I can feel Maka's panicking. She's rambling and she looks really pale.

"Maka calm down. I'm pretty sure somebody's gonna realize we're gone. I bet our friends are looking for us right now," I try to reassure her. Though it doesn't seem to be working. She's looking at me like a lost puppy. I can't help but feel sorry for her honestly. "Let's just stay calm and wait a while okay?"

Nearly forty-five minutes have passed and Maka seems to be in a daze. Her hands are hiding her face and she's folded into her lap. I constantly check my phone, but there's no service here. _"Where the fuck is Blackstar?"_

"It feels like we've been here for hours," I mumble.

I can hear sniffs coming from the left of me. I turn to see Maka's shoulders shaking a bit. Great now she's crying! I have absolutely no idea what to do, but I can't just let her feel alone right now. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into my chest. Her crying gets harder and I instinctively rub her back and hug her tighter. After a few minutes, it seems to work in calming her down because her body isn't shaking anymore and my shirt feels like it's starting to dry again.

"You're heartbeat… I can hear it. It's really loud, but calm," Maka says suddenly. She's got her arms around herself, and I don't blame her. This whole experience was a bit nerve wrecking.

I don't dare move because I don't wanna scare the girl off, and I like the way she feels on my arms.

I'm not sure how much time has passed now, but I'm assuming that it's been another half hour.

"Soul, what time is it?" Maka looks up at me. I check my phone to find that my estimate was way off.

"We've been stuck in here for almost two hours," I sigh heavily and look down at Maka who's still staring at me. It's silent but not awkward. I can feel her studying my features as if trying to remember every detail. Her face is flushed, probably from her crying before, and she's making the most beautiful face right now.

I just know I'm leaning in closer because her eyes shine just a bit brighter.

Our lips finally meet, and I can honestly say that she's the best kisser by far. Her lips are soft and sweet like peaches. She kind of smells faintly of peaches too, but my mind barely catches that. I pull away because I'm human and I obviously need oxygen.

Our foreheads are touching and we're looking into each other's eyes trying to catch our breath. She's just so adorable. Maka definitely drives me wild, that much is certain.

"Soul…"

The lights start to flash and then completely cut off leaving the two of us in complete darkness.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I try to stay calm by breathing rhythmically. This day couldn't get any worse right? The universe can't possibly hate me anymore, and karma couldn't punish me any worse than this right?

"It's okay I think. If the lights are off, then that means that they've completely shut the ride off to fix it," Maka wraps her arms around my waist tightly and I feel calmer.

"That's good," I respond. It's nice and surprisingly peaceful with Maka around.

Luckily, it was only ten minutes before we would be rescued.

"Please remain calm. Our engineers are starting up the ride again. You should be out in the two to five minutes," I could hear a voice over the intercom say.

I looked at Maka to find her looking at me with a look of pure joy. We were finally getting out of here!

"Do we finally get to go home? I bet Liz and Patti were so worried," Maka's beaming with so much happiness and I couldn't blame her.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure Tsubaki was worried about me. Of course, I'm sure Blackstar made this whole fiasco about him, but I guess that's how he shows he cares," I smile fondly at the thought of my two friends and think that maybe I took them for granted. Sure they were horribly annoying today, but they meant no harm. In fact, they both tried to include me in their fun. I should've tried to enjoy it more.

The boat starts moving again and the two of us are nearing the end of the ride. We finally make it to the end, and I can clearly see the maintenance crew members waiting for us.

"We're so incredibly sorry about the mishap. This sort of thing has never really happened to us," One of the crew members apologizes.

"It's cool. Accidents happen right?" I answer smoothly.

"B-but… weren't you scared or at least worried? You two were stuck for at least two hours," Another member speaks.

"Like I said, its fine," I pause to read his name tag," Chris."

"I think he's just trying to look good in front of his girlfriend Chris."

"I think you're right Marcus."

The two workers laugh and begin to lead us out safely.

As we head out the exit, I can see our friends waiting for us on the nearest park bench. Tsubaki's so worried, her skin's gone pale. Blackstar was still being as obnoxious as usual. I'd bet money that he made this whole episode about himself.

I turned to look at Maka who was examining her friends as well. Those two girls she came with were also looking a bit worried. What were their names by the way? Lindsay and Portia? Well it probably doesn't matter anyway since I don't remember.

I see Tsubaki's eyes instantly light up.

"Soul!"

"Maka!"

All four friends are running towards us. Maybe I should run. I definitely don't want to be stampeded on. Instead, I stood there with Maka and awaited impact. It actually wasn't as bad as I had expected.

"We were so worried about you," Our friends squeeze us a bit too tightly.

"It was crazy! Security came and evacuated everyone. We talked to the guys in charge and told them that you were still inside with someone else. Then this blue haired guy was screaming at everyone that his friend was missing. His friend gave the description, and they said that you two were probably gonna get stuck," The taller blonde tells the tale.

"Yeah! Tsubaki was super worried about you, Soul," Blackstar gives me that threatening look that apparently no one catches.

"I bet Maka was scared!" the girl with the baby face starts laughing hysterically. Surprising how much she acts like Blackstar. They'd probably be really close too.

"I-I was not!" Maka blushes which I find absolutely adorable.

"HA! Of course she was. It's written all over her face!" Blackstar teases too. I told you so.

"Blackstar, that isn't cool man," I breathe out.

"Oh what, was little Soul afraid a the dark?"

"Just remember, there are too many witnesses right now," I glare because he's making me look so uncool in front of everyone right now, especially Maka. I've never cared what anyone, especially a girl, thinks about me. That is, until now anyways.

"Soul, there's no need to be violent," Maka says calmly.

"Whatever," I mumble looking away. Yeah Star is SO dead.

"Anyways, looks like Maka has a new boy toy."

"LIZ!" Maka blushes so hard that her face is practically the same shade of a tomato.

So her name is Liz not Linda? Or did I say Lindsay? Maybe I said Link? No wait, that's a character.

"So what's your name? Soul was it? That's pretty different I guess. Maka definitely likes the bad boy type alright. No wonder she likes you so much," Liz is looking me up and down and frankly, I don't appreciate it.

"LIZ! Stop harassing him!"

"Soul needs a girl to protect him. HAHAHAHAHA!"

That's it! I start chasing Blackstar around while Maka gets teased some more by Liz and Patty. Tsubaki's trying to calm Blackstar down because he's taunting me while avoiding my clutches.

Yeah I'd rather be hanging with Kid… or Maka. Most definitely Maka. I wouldn't find out until later about Maka's deadly Maka-Chop. I also wouldn't find out until much later that I'd fallen in love with the Blonde-haired beauty. Yeah this day could've been so much better, but I decide this girl isn't so bad. In fact, I wouldn't trade this day for any other, never in a million years.


End file.
